Independent schools should be stripped of charitable status if they refuse to
sponsor an academy, a government adviser has said.

Alan Milburn has accused the Charity
Commission of mishandling a legal requirement that private schools meet
a “public benefit” test and is calling for a fresh look at whether and how
they benefit the public. In an
interview with The Times he said that charitable status was
“basically a tax break” for private schools that was unjustified unless they
“give something back”.

His comments have provoked anger from leaders of independent schools, who
spent six years in a legal battle